“So you say, but Melody likes Obi.”

  Ugh.

  We broke off from the main tour when we hit the basement, following Charis to what the mortals probably saw as an unbroken part of the stone floor. What I saw was a block of cement with a loop of iron driven into it.

  “Down here, I assume?” I said.

  “Yep.” Charis put her hand on the ring, and lifted the cement like it was made of foam.

  Adam took it from her, and held it open. “Ladies first.”

  Charis gave him a polite smile, and moved to the opening, mounting a wooden ladder down. When she saw me looking at her, she rolled her eyes. I held back the tempting smirk, and ushered Sarah to the ladder.

  “Thanks, Adam,” Sarah said as she started climbing.

  “Of course, my lady,” he replied. Who was this guy?

  Izak went down after Sarah, and I followed behind him. We all waited at the bottom while Adam maneuvered himself onto the ladder while holding up the stone door. It was an impressive feat of strength for a seraph.

  One he reached the bottom, we approached the rift. It was older than many I had seen and been through, a ring of hewn stones with the runes etched along them, drawn on all sides of the rock.

  “So, where in Egypt is this going to land us?” Sarah asked.

  “You’re going to love this,” Charis said.

  “Where?” she repeated.

  Izak leaned in, using his good hand to draw new connecting runes, the master key.

  I had Charis’ memories, so I knew the answer. “Cairo. The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. They have a rift there that they pulled out of one of the tombs. They have no idea what it is, but they took it apart and put it back together with perfect precision. They’ve never told anyone about it, because the writing is clearly not hieroglyphic.”

  “The Egyptians had rifts?” Sarah asked.

  “Remember, child, our kind predates the mortals’ by many millenia,” Adam said, “and the differences between what your historians believe and what is the truth can at times be pretty stark.”

  “You’re saying the Egyptians weren’t pagans?” I asked.

  Adam shrugged. “I’m saying that they were worshipping the same God, though their understanding was not as complete as it is today. They saw different faces of the same surface. They also idolized those who were Awake, much unlike today’s societies.”

  “Hold on,” I said. “Pharoahs… Divine?”

  He laughed. “Didn’t you kill Reyzl? They weren’t all Divine, but they always had our attention. I suppose the pyramids didn’t hurt. I wish I had been around to see them when they were still covered in limestone.”

  Izak grunted, and I felt his power flare and feed into the stones. The rift was ready.

  “Ladies first,” Adam said again.

  “Not this time,” I said. “We don’t know what’s on the other side, and Sarah’s too important to send through first.”

  “In that case, I’ll go,” he replied, and he did.

  “Izak?”

  The demon nodded and stepped into the rift.

  “You don’t like him, do you?” Sarah asked. She seemed disappointed. Or maybe that was because he had called her ‘child’?

  “I don’t trust him. You shouldn’t either.” I motioned for both of them to wait, until Izak reappeared and gave us the thumbs up.

  Stepping through the rift, we found ourselves in a massive underground warehouse lit by a million fluorescent lights. The smell of burning plastic lingered in the air, and looking down I saw that activating the circle had caused the wrapping the archaeologists had put over it to burn away. I was relieved that for once we had managed to travel without landing in the thick of it. Then I noticed the fire alarm was going off.

  “We should go,” Charis said. “Divine Suggestion won’t keep these people away if they feel their heritage is threatened.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. I peeked out from beyond the large crates placed on either side of the rift, looking down a long aisle filled with crates, boxes, and shelves. It was amazing to think of how much stuff they didn’t have on display. There was shouting now, coming from the right. At least know we knew where the exit was.

  “Adam, can you get us some bearings?” I figured if we had an angel with us, we might as well take advantage.

  Adam responded by reaching up and pulling off his polo shirt, revealing the perfectly chiseled form underneath. He handed me the shirt stepped past, finding a spot where he could extend his wings. I dared a glance over at Sarah, unsurprised at her red face and o-shaped mouth.

  He flew up near the ceiling, his wings flapping slowly and gracefully. I had never seen an angel in regular flight before. They were usually diving down at me, or in the midst of landing. It was an awe-inspiring sight, and I was impressed with the lift he got with so little effort. Of course, he wasn’t really flying in the sense of air and thermals and lift. He had a little help with his ratios.

  “The exit is that way,” he called down, pointing. “There are about a dozen mortals a few rows away, and they’re running towards you. They must know where the alarm was triggered.”

  There was no time to get around them, and no time to hide and wait for them to investigate why the rift’s packaging had melted. I was hesitant to ask Sarah to handle them, because she’d been using that particular skill quite a bit, and I had a fear that every time she did it moved her closer to the madness. We needed another way out.

  “I’ll lead them away,” I said. “I’ll meet you at the exit.”

  I didn’t wait for them to argue. I started running down the aisle, glamouring myself into my vision of a ninja. I figured that would look espionage enough to get their attention.

  It did. They turned the corner as a group, a clutch of Egyptians with fire extinguishers in hand. These weren’t soldiers, these were scientists. When they saw me, they skidded to a stop. Then one of the guys in front shot his fire extinguisher at me.

  I danced out of the path of the white foam, and then turned ran past them, trying to lead them down a different aisle, hoping they would all follow, and wondering if Divine Suggestion, as Charis had named it, could be used to attract them, especially since they saw me as the threat.

  Apparently, it could, because when I turned my head to look back, I had twelve angry egyptians right behind me. I could only imagine Adam’s perspective. He would probably fall to the ground from laughing too hard.

  I didn’t focus on speeding myself up, though I could have outpaced the men easily. That wasn’t the idea, and so I ran slow, staying just out of reach of the fire extinguishers, and letting them feel like they could catch me. I looked up at Adam, and he was indeed laughing, but he had enough wherewithal to give me a thumbs up.

  I’d only just turned down the second aisle when I saw Adam put both his thumbs up, and then wave for me to join them at the exit. I returned his gesture, and reached for my power so I could outrun them at last. He swooped down to join the others.

  “Landon.”

  One of the men had just said my name. It broke my focus, and I stopped running.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  I didn’t turn around right away. I stood there, taking in the sounds and the smells. There was one that was overpowering. Death.

  “How did you find us?” I asked.

  I turned slowly, knowing what I was going to find, even if I didn’t know how it had happened. When I finished the half-circle, I saw that there was only one Egyptian left standing, a younger man with a thick mustache and an athletic build. The others were on the ground behind him.

  “How many times do I have to explain this? I’m a god, Landon. I don’t need to ‘find’ you. I always know where you are.”

  Was that how he had found us on the train? Then why hadn’t he attacked us in New York? I had an idea that maybe being inside a church had something to do with that.

  “You didn’t have to kill them,” I said.

  He cackled with laugher. “Didn’t have to kill them? That’s what I do, you moron.” He took a few steps back, and kicked one of the bodies. “So fragile, humans. So easy to break.”

  His anger was enough to change the pressure in the air. I could feel it coming off his host like a static charge.

  “Not feeling as confident, are you?” I asked. “Not after we’ve slipped past you and yours, what? Three times now? It’s happened so often, I’m losing count. Some god.”

  This only enraged him more, but I wasn’t that concerned. Sarah Commanding his host had shown he was limited when he was possessing another’s consciousness. I probably shouldn’t have been goading him, but I had my own share of anger.

  “What are you doing here anyway?” I asked.

  “I was curious.”

  “Curious?”

  He took a few steps forward. “What would you be doing in Egypt? Something brought you here.”

  “You think I’m just going to tell you?”

  He chuckled. “I know you aren’t going to tell me,” he said. “That’s why I had to come and see for myself. I just couldn’t resist revealing myself to you. I wanted you to know that I’m here. That I’m always here. And I can be anyone. Oh, and I’m not limited to only being here. Right now, I’m also in the body of a fiend in Mumbai.”

  “Mumbai?” I asked.

  “I’ll tell you what I’m doing in Mumbai, if you tell me what you’re doing here,” he said.

  “I have an idea of what you’re doing in Mumbai,” I said. He was the Beast, after all. “You can’t say the same about me.”

  “True enough, kid. I guess I’ll have to settle for a different kind of satisfaction. I’ll admit, you’re pretty good at this game, for a rookie. You’ve managed pretty well, and I applaud you for that.” He started clapping. “Like I told you before, my power is growing faster than even I expected. So, I’m moving up the time table on phase two. If you think it’s been fun so far, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  His face changed, growing into that freaking smile. That damnable grin that I despised.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  I focused, preparing myself for whatever he intended. “Bring it on.”

  He raised up his right hand, and I watched in horror as the bone of the forearm pushed out through the skin, growing and changing shape until it resembled a blade of bone, leaving the man’s hand hanging limply attached below it. His other arm went through the same transformation

  “This is just a preview, kid.” He said. Then he charged.

  There was no time to shift, but at least I had Josette’s fighting prowess to rely on. I focused, pouring power into my body, sidestepping the first attack and countering with a solid right hook. The Beast brought a forearm up to block it, and I heard the bones crumble beneath the force.

  “Ouch,” he said, without emotion. He brought the right bone-blade around, slashing at my face. I caught his arm and held it.

  “Do you really think you can take me like this?” I asked.

  “Don’t be stupid, kid,” he replied. “That’s not what it’s about.”

  I shoved him backwards, sending him twenty feet in the air to crash down on the rest of the dead. He pushed himself to his knees, facing me.

  “Watch this,” he said. He stabbed one of the bodies with the bone-blade. A second later, it began to climb to its feet. “Are you starting to get it?”

  I felt my heart start to pound, my mind starting to catch up to the Beast’s display. He could re-animate the dead. How many at one time? I didn’t know, but Malize had said the angels sent entire armies up against him, armies that fell to their once fallen brethren. He could also possess the living. It was a vicious combo that brought all of the hope I’d started to gain from his prior defeats to a screeching halt. How could anyone stand up to that?

  “Ah,” he said. “I see you are. I-“

  His head fell forward, detached from his body. Adam stood behind him. “Okay,” he said. “I believe you.”

  Was it a surprise the statement didn’t bring me any comfort? I motioned to the man he had animated. “What about him?”

  In response, a grenade of hellfire hit the corpse, setting it on fire. Adam backed away from it, and in a few moments it was consumed. Izak stood there, a grim look on his face. He might not have been happy, but watching the body burn gave me back a little bit of my lost hope. At least we could burn the dead, to keep them from coming back.

  The three of us ran through the warehouse, meeting up with Sarah and Charis near the exit.

  “We need to move fast. The Beast-“

  Another Egyptian man rounded the corner and leaped at Sarah. Before I could react, Izak got in front of her and grabbed his head in his good hand. It burned away beneath his touch, the body flopping to the floor.

  “He’s possessing people and sending them at us,” I finished.

  “Come on,” Charis said. “The Pyramids are ten miles away.”

  That wasn’t that close. Not when we had to get through a city of hundreds of thousands of people, and any one or more of them could be the Beast.

  We ran as fast as we could, up a flight of stairs and out the back door of the museum through an emergency exit. We had to keep going, to keep moving faster than the Beast could get people after us. Even if we killed them with fire like Izak had, he was still destroying people. People with families, and homes, and lives of their own.

  “We need a car,” Sarah said.

  We had come out the back. There was a fence, and a roadway on the other side. I focused, tearing open the fence with a thought and running for the road.

  As we approached, a car skidded off the pavement, headed straight for me, the driver laughing. I crouched and focused, ducking to the side and lifting the front corner of the car with a tug, sending it corkscrewing away to land upside down with a crash. A second later, two more cars veered towards me.

  “Stay close to Sarah,” I shouted. Not to protect her, but because she could protect us, at least from the cars. He wasn’t going to risk killing his prize. They skidded to a stop, and the drivers got out.

  They didn’t get far. Izak hit them with hellfire, sending them falling away, but more cars were pulling over, and then I felt the sudden heat of a demon in my Sight.

  “Get in the car,” I yelled, pointing at one of the abandoned vehicles.

  “I’ll meet you there,” Adam said. He spread his wings and shot into the air, circling above us.

  The rest of us made a beeline for the car, some run-down rust bucket of a thing. Charis slid in behind the wheel, and I took shotgun. She peeled out as best she could in the clunker.

  “Which way?” she asked me. I dug into my pocket and pulled out my cell. I never thought I’d be Googling directions to the Great Pyramids like this.

  “Left,” I said, looking at the map that had come up. I was still waiting for the GPS to locate us, so I hoped that it was right.

  “I can’t go left from here,” she shouted. “It’s one-way.”

  I looked at her. “Are you kidding me?”

  She smiled and turned the wheel, forcing the tires to whine while she pulled the car left, up a curb, and over into oncoming traffic. They split around us, avoiding an unseen obstacle. That didn’t save them from the Beast, who was moving those he possessed behind us. We could hear the crashes in the background.

  “Son of a bitch,” I yelled.

  We passed more cars, and I heard the screaming tires as the Beast took the drivers and turned the cars around, angling them into other oncoming traffic. Within seconds, the cars ahead of us saw what was happening behind us, and they came to a stop.

  “Not good,” Sarah said.

  Charis hit the brakes. “Now what?”

  I tried to think. This had gone bad faster than I could have imagined. I had thought the Beast would adapt his strategy, and he had in a big way.

  “We’ll have to fight our way through.” I opened the door and got out of the car. They followed my lead.

  “Do you give up?” Three of the drivers were walking towards us. The words came from all of their mouths at once.

  “Not a chance,” I said. As much as I hated that people were dying, if he won, everything would die. “You’re going to have to do better.”

  Three faces smiling in unison. “Oh, I plan to. This is just the warmup.”

  “Izak?”

  The demon walked towards the drivers.

  “Nice hand,” they said. “That looks like it hurts.”

  He held out his palm, the hellfire flaring in it. He bathed them in it.

  “Good for you.” Two more people approached from the other side, another man and a woman. “You can keep me from bringing them back, but you can’t stop me from taking them, and there are quite a few people here in Cairo.”

  “Landon,” Charis said. “This isn’t going to work.”

  “We don’t have a choice.” I took Sarah’s hand. “Be careful with your puppets,” I said. “You don’t want anything to happen to Sarah.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”

  I let go of Sarah’s hand and ducked as a vampire crashed to the ground in front of me. I had Seen him coming. He rolled to his feet.

  “It isn’t just humans, you know,” the vampire said.

  Maybe not, but vampires could still burn.

  Or lose their heads. When he leaped at me again, Charis intervened.

  “Turn right onto Nile Corniche in two hundred meters,” came the automaton voice from my phone. It had finally gotten the directions.

  “Come on,” I said. “We have to run for it. Now!”

  I reached out for Sarah’s hand, and then paused, feeling a coolness enter my Sight, and hearing a buzzing in the distance. It seemed ridiculous, but what about the rest of the situation was any more sane?

  “Sarah, when I say the word, grab onto me as tight as you can.”